100 Themes Challenge
by CrowCake
Summary: 100 scraps about the Naruto universe. Yes, I'm jumping the bandwagon too
1. Introduction

**A/N:** Okay, it looks like I'm doing this too. Keep in mind that these stories are scraps of ideas I've had lying around and nothing actually good. I doubt I'll continue any of them into an actual story, but you are free to do so as long as you tell me, give me some sort of credit somewhere, and send me the story to read when you're done! Again, these are scraps, a lot of them are unedited, most of them are completely stupid, but I don't care. Have fun reading!

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**1-Introduction**

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Neji was not a morning person, he as never been a morning person, and he will never be a morning person. This particular morning however, to his great distaste, he was force to drag himself out of bed at five in the morning and proceed half asleep to the training grounds to meet what was soon to be his new Genin team leader. Woop-ti-dingle-do.

Neji was never one for being on time. Don't get him wrong though, he has never been late to anything in his life. No, Hyuuga Neji was always, always, _always_, early, and today was no exception. At five twenty he found himself approaching the designated meeting spot with forty minutes to spare. Hopefully, the alone time would let him mentally prepare himself for whatever it was he was expected to do with his new teammates, whose names he didn't bother to remember since they were probably losers and below him anyway.

Unfortunately for Neji, someone beat him there. Under the tree where they were supposed to meet was a fully grown adult with the ugliest hair style Neji had ever seen and green spandex, doing pushups. What kind of same man would wear spandex and do pushups at five twenty two in the morning Neji didn't know, and he certainly didn't want to find out. Or look close enough to find out.

The Hyuuga turned his face away from the sight in disgust. There was no way he was getting near that tree. Edging away before the freak could notice him, he leaned against the tree ten feet from the spectacle and focused on something much less disturbing, like exactly how many blades of grass there were in the field to his far right.

"Hyuuga Neji," a deep voice declared proudly, much closer than Neji had expected.

He turned his head, eye still averted down. Big mistake. He squeezed his eyes shut as tight as they would go, but it was too late, the mental picture of what he just saw would be stuck with him forever. The spandex-clan weirdo was standing hardly a foot away, hands on his hips and chest puffed out. How the hell had he gotten so close without Neji noticing?

Reluctantly, Neji raised his head and opened his eyes to look at the man's face. Oh god, the eyebrows were a different story all together. The man was positively beaming. At least his teeth weren't so bad.

The freak stuck his had out for Neji to shake. The boy raised an eyebrow and eyed the weirdo before slowly reaching for it.

As soon as his fingers had even twitched the man griped his hand so tightly it hurt and shook it enthusiastically.

"Maito Gai!" he proclaimed much more loudly then Neji thought necessary with the close proximity that they were in, which was too close for Neji's liking anyway, especially with the man dressed the way he was.

"You are early!" Gai observed excitedly, still shaking the Hyuuga's hand long after it was polite to stop. Neji tried to detach his hand from the death grip but failed. "Isn't that wonderful? You are in the springtime of your youth, and you do not waste a single minute of it sleeping in! That is something to be admired, my young pupil!"

"Hn."

_This_ guy was his teacher? Why? Why did the gods hate Neji so?

The handshaking finally stopped, but Gai still wouldn't give him his hand back. Instead, he jerked it towards himself, pulling Neji some kind of awkward and completely uncalled for bear hug.

"I'm so proud of you!" Gai sobbed, latching onto Neji constricting his airway. "Youth runs deep within you, I can feel it! I just know we will share a tight and everlasting bond!"

Was he actually crying? Neji felt like bashing his head into the tree behind him. There were exactly thirty four minutes until his teammates would come and take the attention away from him. There were many, many years until this nightmare would end.


	2. Love

**#2-Love**

-

Don't you understand? The bond we share is something special, something we have to keep! You can't just break it! I won't let you! A bond like this doesn't break as easily a lock or as Sakura-chan's heart or my bones. You'll have to break a lot more than that, and we'll still have this bond! You know that, I can see it in your eye and you know it, just admit it!

You may be my first bond, but that doesn't mean it's weak. The first is always the strongest, I believe that. Do you? No? It doesn't matter! You know why, because Kaka-sensei and Sakura-chan believe it too! You're our teammate, and friend, and so much more so why are you fighting us like this? You'll never ever find anything close to what we share over with Orochimaru! Stop! Listen to me!

Stop running! Hear me out! Even I can see you hurt somewhere deep down, and I don't know why, and you have to tell me or else I'll never know. Revenge! Revenge! I don't understand! Please, explain to me so we can help you! We want to help you! Please stop and listen!

You're not making any sense! I'll won't turn back and let you go! I'll die trying! The bond is there, unbreakable and strong! Nothing in this whole world can ever break it! Kill me? Will you really do that? This isn't you, not the real you. My _friend_ would never try to kill me. Yes, I said friend. You were and you still are! Don't try to pretend it was all an act, you and I both know it wasn't!

Come back, teme! I know you don't want to hear this, but I'm saying it anyway. What we share…it's something few people have. You call us best friends; I say it's more like brothers, but can't you see it's something more than that? It's love. I know it is. Everyone in the village loves you; Sakura-chan, Kaka-sensei, even me. I love you, Sasuke! Don't go!


	3. Light

**#3-Light**

-

Ino didn't even wince as the hot wax dripped onto her fingers. She only looked down, and examined what was left of the tiny candle stub. The flame was just barely flickering.

"We only have a few minutes of so of light left," she hissed.

Behind her, the two other members of Team 10 trudged through the dripping cave, heads down. They'd been lost for sixteen hours now, sixteen long, desperate, horrifying hours. The cave was said to go on for miles and miles; even Shikamaru couldn't think of a way to get out. They'd been walking the whole time, using up all the candles they had stashed away. This was the last one. Most of the food had fallen down a trench, as had most of the supplies during the squabble that followed.

Shikamaru's footsteps stopped behind her, and Ino turned to see him sitting against the slimy cave wall.

"What are you doing?" she yelled. "We have to get out of here? We don't have time for a rest now!"

"You don't have to be so loud," he complained. "I'm aware, okay?! There's no way out, in a minute it will be completely dark, we're going to die here, we might as well do so sitting down."

"Please don't be so pessimistic, Shikamaru," Chouji squatted down next to his best friend.

"It's called being realistic!" Ino snapped. "Get up, both of you! We have to keep going!

Shikamaru groaned and covered his ears. "Do you have to be so loud? Your voice echoes you know."

"Don't fight, please," Chouji sighed and let himself fall back to sit on the floor as well.

Ino looked between her two exhausted teammates and the pitch black of the tunnel in direction they were traveling in. With a sigh, she carefully sat down across from the other two to form a triangle, trying to ignore the wetness of the cave floor seeping into the back of her skirt. A deck of cards was placed in the middle of the triangle, and the light on top of that. Together, they sat around it in the semi-darkness, examining the others' faces by the strange light.

Perhaps it was the light itself, but Ino saw her teammates somewhat differently sitting there in that cave. Chouji didn't look quite so fat, and for the first time she noticed how kind he looked, how optimistic. Now that she thought about it, he was always the one she knew she could trust to tell her problems to, knowing he would listen and never tell.

Shikamaru also didn't look like the annoying whiny know-it-all that he was. He looked caring and clever, and in a way almost tolerable. Although the faces of her teammates looked tired and forlorn, she felt the strangest sort of happiness just knowing they were there beside her.

"I wish Asuma-sensei was here," she muttered to herself without thinking.

Her eyes widened when she realized her mistake, and both she and Chouji quickly looked at Shikamaru. The genius didn't seem perturbed.

"Yeah, me too," he added quietly.

Suddenly, he reached into his leg hoister and spun out a kunai. He clutched it in his fist and he turned and down on one knee began to carve something into the wall behind him.

"What are you doing?" Chouji asked as if he were afraid of the answer.

"Marking our grave," he answered calmly.

Ino's breath hitched, but she couldn't bring herself to stop him. Chouji didn't say anything either, and the two of them sat staring at their third teammate, the only sound that of metal scraping against rock.

At last, Chouji looked down into his lap. "I'm glad you guys are my teammates," he whispered without looking up. "I couldn't have asked for better friends."

The corner of Ino's mouth curved up ever so slightly. "Yeah, me too. I know I always say how much I hate you and wish you would all just leave me alone, but I can't think of anyone I'd rather be stuck in here with."

"Except 'Sasuke-kun,'" Shikamaru mocked the last word in a high-pitched voice.

"Well, yes, except Sasuke-kun."

Chouji exhaled a chuckle.

Shikamaru sat back and examined his work. The other two read the words on the wall as well.

"Hey, give me that," Chouji pointed to the kunai.

Shikamaru handed it over and made room for Chouji to crawl over and start carving on the wall right underneath the letters already there.

Shikamaru watched him for a while in silence until Ino coughed.

"Oh, right. You guys are great, too. It's been fun— through good times and bad."

Ino nodded in agreement just and Chouji finished and gestured for her turn to carve something with the kunai.

"Hey Shikamaru," Ino called behind her, "I'm sorry I call you lazy all the time."

"I'm sorry I call you a whore behind your back."

"What?!"

"Nothing," Shikamaru raised his hands innocently in the air.

Ino shot his a deathly glare, but decided against throwing the kunai as she finished her part of the message and moved around the candle so that all three could read the message on the wall. The scratches in the wall flickered with the flame; first Shikamaru's blocky letters; underneath them were Chouji's carefully carved into the stone, and lastly Ino's message, elegant and yet messily so:

HERE LIE NARA SHIKMARY, YAMANAKA INO, AND AKAMICHI CHOUJI**,**

**friends and teammates**

_until the end_

Ino found herself with one of her arms around Chouji's shoulders and the other around Shikamaru's waist. The other two were in similar positions as the three huddled together, reading the wall over and over. Tears threatened to spill over, but Ino tried to hold them back the best she could.

"I love you guys," she sobbed dryly. Someone's hand rubbed her back to comfort her.

All three watched silently as the light went out.


	4. Dark

**#4-Dark**

-

It started as a dull headache; Itachi ignored it. But the ache progressed into something more and more painful as the months passed. It was a constant migraine somewhere just behind his eyes now. He thought of it as nothing.

Sometimes, the pain spiked dramatically to the point that Itachi was doubled over in agony. For minutes all he could do was curl up into a ball and shake. Occasionally he would hear someone screaming in his head. Unearthly, unreal screams that could never come from the throat of a human. Kisame never had the heart to tell him Itachi was the one that made those sounds.

Itachi pretended to ignore the little dark patch at the corner of his left vision that always moved as he moved. He would swat at it occasionally, followed by a glare at anyone who dared to look at him funny. But the spot soon spread, until every corner of Itachi's vision was dark.

And it didn't stop there; the center of his vision grew steadily and steadily blurrier. This vision would twitch and jump and spiral to the point that it very nearly made him sick. But that was alright, because the darkness slowly crawled to fill in the middle.

Itachi couldn't let that happen. He relied on his Sharingan more and more, using as his actual sight when his normal eyes would no longer serve their purpose. The searing headaches grew more and more frequent and the screaming ever louder, but he refuse to give in to the darkness. Not yet, at any rate.

He found temporary methods of getting his mind off the pain the day, but night was a different story. No matter how powerful he got, there was no escaping the nightmares when he slept. The dark was preferred to the grotesque demons that crawled from the nothingness and ate away at Itachi. He woke sweaty and screaming countless times. The monsters always took their time slinking away, and remained behind longer and longer after his awaking as he gulped down as much air as he could manage.

Sure enough, as the dark grew truer and demons would emerge even when Itachi was awake. He felt their ghost-touches are they wrapped slimy tentacles around his ankles and clawed at his clothes and skin. In the night they would rake his eyes until he actually felt the blood oozing down his face. Upon waking, he would find his face wet with something thicker than tears or sweat, but he couldn't trust himself anymore to tell the difference between illusion and reality. If he were able to, he would see the blood under his fingernails as well where he himself had raked at his eyes.

His life became a torrent of pain and fear but he refused to give in. He could feel the time coming closer when the demons would drag him under into the impenetrable darkness. He would not let them do so yet, not until he found _him._ Itachi wanted him to be the one to push his head into the frigid waters of death and darkness, only he could do it because he deserved it. Until that day came, Itachi was willing to face the dark and the demons and the agony. He would wait here, in the dark.


	5. Seeking Solace

**#5-Seeking Solace**

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Sakura felt happy to have her first day off in weeks, she truly did. It was just…lonely, that was all. Tsunade had pushed her harder than ever since Naruto and Jiraiya had left, and she did feel thankful for something to get her mind off of it, but it wasn't like she could keep going at that pace forever.

The pink-haired Konoichi hung over the railing of the bridge Team 7 always used to meet at every morning. Birds were chirping and the faint distant murmur of the morning market blended in with the gurgle of water below her, but none of those sounds registered. To Sakura, everything seemed quiet and surreal, as if time had come to a sudden standstill and she was the only person left unaffected. She wasn't sure how long she would be able to stand here, in a world all her own, but she savored it.

It dawned on her gradually that she was waiting. This bridge was always for waiting, in which case she knew exactly what she would be waiting for. It seemed a silly thing to believe, now that all of Team 7 was gone seeking power, that he would still be here, appearing seemingly out of nowhere at the top of the bridge supports smiling that crinkly-eye smile and making up excuses for being late. There was no way that such a simple thing could survive. For that matter, if felt like Kakashi shouldn't exist with Team 7, as if he were just a result of their teamwork; not that it was gone, his existence was no longer needed.

Sakura looked up at the poles just in case he might be sitting there, but he wasn't. For some reason, she felt disappointed, although she knew full well there wasn't a chance he would be there. It didn't feel like her team had gone off, broken, only temporary, but as if they had died. Although the thought was ridiculous, she let her feet carry her from the bridge and to a place she had only been a few times before; the Konoha KIA memorial stone.

Of all the places for him to be, Sakura was surprised to find him here. He stood like a statue, completely unmoving; she would have turned away and not disturbed him at had she not known that he had probably been aware of her presence even before she saw him. Slowly, quietly, she approached his side and scanned the newest names on the stone without looking up at him. She stopped when she got to Sandaime's; it was pointless to look at the names before that, her teammates wouldn't be there. As hard as it was to believe, Naruto and Sasuke were still alive out there somewhere. Sakura checked one more time for her own name, but didn't find that either.

"Looking for someone?" Kakashi asked quietly, breaking her out of her trance.

She looked up at him, his face completely serious. Surprisingly, his headband wasn't tilted over his left eye as it usually was.

"No. Who would I be looking for?" she asked innocently.

Kakashi's cheek lifted slightly when he smirked from behind his mask. "Don't lie to me with my Sharingan exposed, Sakura."

The pink-haired girl blushed slightly and looked away at the stone. "Yes, I was," she murmured.

Kakashi looked back at the stone as well as he pulled his forehead protector back over his eye. Neither said anything for a while, and Sakura started to feel a bit awkward standing there. She didn't find what she was looking for here, but leaving would disturb the silence. Besides that, she couldn't think of anywhere to go. At last, her patience gave way to her curiosity.

"Why are you here?" she asked looking up at her teacher.

He took his time before answering. "The same reason you are."

The answer took Sakura by surprise. She was here to get find the difference between delusions and reality. To find her teammate's names or her own. To make sure she still existed and that the world was still spinning.

It dawned on her that Kakashi never spoke of his old team. She remembered him once saying that everyone he ever held dear had died. Were the names he was looking at now those of his teammates? Was the way she felt right now the same way that Kakashi felt every single day. Maybe Kakashi was there every day checking if those names were still there, praying that they might not be there one day and knowing that his efforts were useless.

Sakura felt so sorry for him, and so ashamed of herself for even coming out here to check and make sure that Naruto and Sasuke's names weren't here. What an idiot she was for even thinking of the possibility!

"Did you find what you were looking for?" she blurted out before she could stop herself.

"Every time," he answered quietly.

"How often do you come here, exactly?" she cried, spinning around to face him.

Kakashi didn't seem perturbed. "Every day."

"This wouldn't by any chance be the reason you're always late, is it?" she asked, putting her hands on her hips, all sympathy for the man gone.

He smiled his crinkly-eyed smile. "It might be. Which reminds me, I have somewhere I need to be at eight o'clock."

"Kaka-sensei! It's ten thirty!" she scolded him, but he was already gone in a puff of smoke.

Sakura sighed, annoyed yet somehow happy. She truly hoped that Kakashi would tell her about his teammates someday. Who knows, it might do him some good just to talk about them.

She turned back to face the stone and stared at the blank space saved for the next name of a ninja that would give his or her life for the village. Maybe one day Naruto's or Sasuke's name would be up there, maybe even her own, but today was not that day. For now they weren't here, but that didn't mean they were dead. Both would return to the village one day, Sakura just knew it.


	6. Break Away

**#6-Break Away**

-

Thunder clattered across the sky, accompanying a flash of lightening that briefly illuminated a small clearing outside a hidden entrance built into the cliff face bordering the trees. Right in front of the wall of stone stood a boy, his short raven hair plastered to the back of his neck by the relentless rain. His clothes were soaked through and clung to his thin frame, but he boy didn't seem to notice. His dark eyes held no sign of emotion as he looked skyward, seeking answers in the clouds to questions he couldn't put into words. All he got in response was the dance of lightening sparks and a deafening crash.

Behind him, two men stood under the secret entrance, just out of sight and earshot.

The first man chuckled, an eerie sort of laugh that send chills the down the spine of his companion. "There is no need to watch him so intently, Kabuto," he purred. "He isn't going to go anywhere."

The second man knew better then to contradict his master. "I know, Orochimaru-sama," he answered. "It just looks like Sasuke-kun might be having second thoughts." The rain streaming down the raven-haired boy's face could easily be mistaken for tears.

The first man only laughed again. "He knows there is no going back on his decision now. He made the right choice. All he needs is a push in the right direction." The man paused and watched the boy stand under the rain for a moment longer before continuing. "He has a goal, and he knows he needs my help to get there."

The second man readjusted his glasses and squinted at the dark figure standing in the rain. "But Orochimaru-sama, how can you be sure he has no ties of his former village. For all you know he could betray you."

"I see a lot of myself in this boy," the first man answered through a serpentine smile. "In time, he will break away from those bonds. In his mind, he already has. His heart just needs to catch up."

With those words, the man turned and glided back into the shadows of his hideout, leaving the second man alone to watch the boy out in the rain. The second man sighed and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose once more. He had full confidence in his master's decisions; if he said that the raven-haired youth would be able to break away from his ties, then so he would.


	7. Heaven

**#7-Heaven**

-

For the first time in years, Itachi's eyes registered bright light. He scrunched them shut and waited for them to adjust while he took in his surroundings with his other senses. There didn't seem to be any chakra for miles, nor any sound other then that of a gentle wind brushing past his ears. It was chilly here, but not uncomfortable.

The next thing Itachi noticed was the pain, or lack there of. All the wounds he had gotten in the span of the last hour or so were gone, along with the pressure and prickling behind his eyes. He brushed his hand against the corner of his mouth, but found no blood there either. He was completely healed. Moreover, he found that he wasn't wearing his usual clothes, or even his cloak, but some sort of silky fabric that fell over his skin but felt almost weightless. He would have been sure he wasn't wearing anything at all had he not felt it shift down his arm when he lifted it to touch his face.

Slowly, he was able to squint and look around. To his amazement, his vision was perfect; crystal clear and perfectly bright as it had been the day he awakened his Sharingan. More astounding still was the fact that he was not lying as he should be, but standing upright. All around him, a golden light was slowly fading, giving way to blue sky and clouds. A thick fog hovered just below his knees, but his feet told him he was standing on firm ground. His eyes however, showed that he was standing in an expanse of ground fog and sky.

A figure slowly drifted towards Itachi. Whoever they were, they were small, not quite yet an adult but not really a child either. They walked with grace that barely sent the fog rippling, a faint golden glow came from a ring hovering just above their head. It too wore the same strange outfit Itachi did; a sort of unearthly white fabric that floated rather then hung over its body.

As the figure grew closer, Itachi had to hold back a gasp as he recognized it. The same dark spiky hair, the same mirthful smile; the boy didn't look a day older then when Itachi had last seen him back when he was only four years old.

When the thirteen-year-old stood right in front of Itachi he stopped. "You've grown up quite well, Itachi-kun," Obito smiled.

Itachi opened his mouth to say something, but no words came out. It was enough Itachi had no idea what was going on, but now someone who looked nearly ten years younger then him and should have been dead for nearly twice that was standing here in front of him talking about how much he had grown. Itachi promptly shut his mouth and blinked.

Obito just laughed. Not a mean laugh, but simply a happy one; the one that Itachi had been dying to hear again since his friend failed to return from a mission during the war. "I guess there'll be time for catching up later. Come on, we have to go now or we're going to be late."

"Late for what?" asked, although he already found himself taking his old role model's hand.

"Judgment," Obito answered quietly, taking Itachi's other hand as well. "Don't worry though I'm sure you'll do fine."

"Judgment for what? Where are you taking me?"

Obito just smiled and arched his back. From behind him, two enormous feathered wings stretched out to a span of nearly ten feet and with a single flap both Uchihas were lifted off the ground and ascended into the air.

Itachi tried to keep his panic in check and didn't let it show through in his face. He wasn't falling and even being pulled down by gravity. If might just as well have been standing on level ground with Obito just holding on to both his hands.

Below him, Itachi saw that what he had been standing on was not ground, but a cloud, and below that was an expanse of sea. Directly underneath him was a rocky coastline, and on a particular rock jutting out into the sea stood a figure Itachi recognized all too well. His eyes widened, and he jerked his head back up to look at Obito.

"I'm dead, aren't I?" he whispered.

Obito only nodded and looked up to where they were rising. "We're almost there," he informed Itachi. The older Uchiha barely had time to look up before his head was plunged into a cloud. The gentle hold Obito's hands had on his was relinquished, and for a moment Itachi thought he would fall down all the way into the dark waters below, but his feet soon met something solid again.

"You can open your eyes now," Obito told him.

Itachi didn't realize he had been squeezing them shut. The two of them stood between a golden gate bigger then Itachi had ever seen before. To looked to Obito in question, but the boy only extended his arm out, gesturing for Itachi to step forward.

With a final look to his old friend and to his brother far below, the elder Uchiha brother walked to his fate.


End file.
